Raise the Hammer

Another Senior Citizen Dies after Automobile Collision

Pedestrians are disproportionately at risk of injury and death on high-volume thoroughfares where the physics of high vehicle speeds means collisions are both harder to avoid and more likely to result in serious injury.

A 79-year-old pedestrian has died after being struck by an automobile on Mohawk Road West at Penlake Court.

According to Hamilton Police Service, the man was crossing Mohawk Road southbound when he was struck by another 79-year-old man driving eastbound in a Ford Escape. The pedestrian was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and died shortly afterwards.

A report in the Hamilton Spectator quoted Hamilton Emergency Services manager Carmen D'Angelo, who said the victim was "propelled a considerable distance" in the collision.

High Risk Street Design

At Penlake Court, Mohawk Road West is a suburban "stroad", a four-lane thoroughfare with a centre turn lane. It is lined on both sides by residential homes, though the houses on the south side face away from the street.

Penlake is a small court with just eight houses that extends north from Mohawk. It is approximately 90 metres east of the intersection of Mohawk and Rice Avenue, which is controlled by traffic lights.

This latest fatality is part of a depressing pattern. Pedestrians are disproportionately at risk of collision, injury and death on high-volume thoroughfares where the physics of high vehicle speeds means collisions are both harder to avoid and more likely to result in serious injury.

Likewise, Senior citizens are disproportionately represented among the victims of automobile collisions with pedestrians. Older pedestrians need more time to cross the street - especially a wide street like Mohawk - and tend to have slower reaction time to avoid sources of danger.

Complete Streets to Prevent Injury

In a 2012 Report on Pedestrian Deaths, Ontario Coroner argues that pedestrian collisions are preventable and that street design should reflect "the vulnerability of the human body".

The report recommends a "complete streets" approach to make streets "safe, convenient and comfortable for every user, regardless of transportation mode, physical ability or age." This approach entails reducing vehicle speed through both signage and design, increasing the number of crosswalks and reducing the crossing distance for pedestrians with bumpouts and islands.

The kinetic energy of a vehicle is an exponential function of its speed. If a vehicle moving at 32 km/h collides with a pedestrian, the pedestrian has a 5% chance of dying. At 48 km/h, the death risk rises to 45% and at 64 km/h, the death risk rises to 85%.

Last month, RTH contributor Nicholas Kevlahan argued that it's time to regard Hamilton's streets as a design defect and issue a recall on our dangerous thoroughfares.

Ryan McGreal, the editor of Raise the Hammer, lives in Hamilton with his family and works as a programmer, writer and consultant. Ryan volunteers with Hamilton Light Rail, a citizen group dedicated to bringing light rail transit to Hamilton. Ryan wrote a city affairs column in Hamilton Magazine, and several of his articles have been published in the Hamilton Spectator. His articles have also been published in The Walrus, HuffPost and Behind the Numbers. He maintains a personal website, has been known to share passing thoughts on Twitter and Facebook, and posts the occasional cat photo on Instagram.

Read Comments

When cycling around a neighborhood, you are moving slower, and more immersed in the surroundings. Thus as a result of cycling around the mountain for a good bunch of years, I saw several hair raising moments on Garth and on Mohawk where I thought a senior was going to get smoked by traffic. What I recall, especially from the closest scariest one I saw, was someone started crossing when it was safe, but failed to make it across before the next wave caught up.

That said, there are no details on what happened, so in this instance, it's certainly possible this man stepped out into traffic inappropriately. Speculation does no good. But yes the roads are wide and scary if you can't walk fast.

Drivers on that road are impatient, the whole time I lived on Mohawk Road there were so many horn honks just because people pulling out of their driveways. End of April, my knee healed enough, the very first day I jumped on the bike to visit the post office 1km away on Garth; didn't get halfway before a driver swore at me out their window because they had to pass me. People are rude. I had a sick feeling someone would be hit, my intuition was correct.

The term used is "senior citizen". It's hardly a personal choice of the author's ... "senior citizen" is the default term used in Canada for, well, senior citizens. Would you rather Ryan wrote "persons of elderliness"?